The history of watchmaking is not only that of the discoveries and inventions that enamelled it; it is, first and foremost, the story of the people who built it, little by little, as new mechanisms were developed and new marketing methods were developed. Here is a non-exhaustive presentation of the famous watchmakers who have allowed this story to be built to the rhythm of the passing time, and creative geniuses that have made them major watchmaking personalities.

These men who have changed the course of watchmaking history
They were architects, astronomers, surveyors, mathematicians, physicists. They all had in common to be, and above all, famous watchmakers. Passionate about the notion of time measurement, both brilliant discoverers and inventors of genius, the watchmaking personalities who have contributed to profound changes in the nature of clocks and watches, have worked towards universal goals: measuring time with a accuracy always increased; build better mechanisms; develop refined and / or avant-garde aesthetics; and design production and marketing processes for greater efficiency.

We divided them into two categories: inventors and businessmen.

The inventors

Watchmaking was born of the individual talent of certain men, who challenged the laws of physics to offer their fellow beings, such as modern Prometheus, a tool for measuring time. These watchmaking personalities invented mechanisms of ever greater precision to achieve this goal of capturing, in a dial, the passage of hours and minutes.

The anchor escapement (Robert Hooke, 1670), the cycloid pendulum for clocks and the spiral for watches (Christian Huygens, late 17th century) went in this direction. These famous watchmakers have been remembered as pioneers. But in parallel, in the Swiss Jura, another man laid the foundations of watchmaking as an industry: Daniel Jeanrichard, with his modern vision of the division of labor and division of tasks in the field of watchmaking.

Famous inventor watchmakers, then there were many others: those who worked tirelessly on the development of marine chronometers (George Graham, designer of the mercury pendulum of the same name, John Harrison), those who worked on more mechanisms. perfected for watches and traditional clocks (the Frenchman Julien Le Roy and his pendulum equation). Let us also mention the experimenters and theoreticians who, not content to advance the science of clocks, contributed to its durability (Ferdinand Berthoud, inventor of the escapement relaxation and author of many books).

But watchmaking could not be – and never was – just a matter of mechanisms. It was also necessary to breathe in beauty and mystery. This was done by Pierre Jaquet-Droz, a Swiss designer of fantastic automatons who were considered witchcraft, or Abraham-Louis Breguet, famous among famous watchmakers, who conceived works that were fundamentally original and elegant. . Inventor of the tourbillon, the anchor escapement with shared impulse surfaces or the “Breguet” spiral, it is undoubtedly the watchmaking personality that brought his art into the era of modernity, and this, from the eighteenth century.

Businessmen

Beyond its inventions, watchmaking is also punctuated by its brands. Famous watchmakers founded factories that were just as famous. Thus, the watchmaking personalities are also those who founded well-known brands all over the planet, and who knew how to take the industry head to head to modify the race, sometimes in times of crisis.

It is Hans Wilsdorf, a native German and British adopted, who gave life to his ambitions in the form of a renowned brand to the end of the world, symbol of the universality of the watch-object: Rolex . It is also the presence of wit and the commercial intelligence of a Nicolas Hayek who, at the turn of the most serious crisis that the Swiss watch industry has ever known, at the turn of the 70s, responded to the threat of the quartz watch by a merger of efforts (creation of the Swiss Society of Microelectronics and Watchmaking) and by the salvating launch of a small watch now more famous than most of the watchmaking personalities mentioned above: the Swatch.

Chronologie des horlogers célèbres

Christian Huygens (1629 – 1695). As an astronomer, mathematician and physicist, Huygens was one of the precursors in the field of watchmaking precision. He designed many innovative mechanisms, such as the clock clock, and discovered a number of astronomical principles before having crossed the bar of 30 years.

Daniel Jeanrichard (1665 – 1741). Self-taught genius, born in the mountains of the Swiss Jura, Jeanrichard remains a personality surrounded by mystery. Having initiated the watch industry around Neuchâtel with a certain talent for mechanical innovation, he was mythified soon after his death by his successors watchmakers, anxious to make prevail the Swiss know-how against the English.

George Graham (1673 – 1751). Graham was one of the greatest watchmakers in 18th century England – and of all time. Having invented the recoil anchor escapement and the mercury clock, he was received at the Royal Society of London.

Ferdinand Berthoud (1727 – 1807). The Swiss Berthoud has become known for the quality of its watchmaking work, throughout a career shared by Switzerland, France and England. He has also published numerous works on the art of watchmaking.

Julien Le Roy (1686 – 1759). Inventor of the horizontal clock, Julien Le Roy helped to put the French watch industry back on the scene, at a time when the British dominated the sector.

John Harrison (1693 – 1776). Ebenist and great English watchmaker, totally self-taught, Harrison has revolutionized the field of clocks and marine chronometers.

Pierre Jacquet-Droz (1721 – 1790). A watchmaker of genius and precursor of mechanical calculation, the Swiss Jaquet-Droz, with the help of his son, conquered the world by presenting his famous automatons and other remarkable and playful mechanisms, full of surprises.

Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747 – 1823).Born in Switzerland, a student of Ferdinand Berthoud, Breguet excelled in the invention and perfection of watchmaking movements. From the famous tourbillon to the marine chronometer, the science of Breguet has benefited the entire world of watchmaking.

Hans Wilsdorf (1881 – 1960). German watchmaker, Wilsdorf founded the most famous watch brand on the planet: Rolex. One of the most prestigious incarnations of the quality and high precision that are the hallmarks of Swiss watchmaking.

Nicolas Hayek (1928 – 2010). Born in Lebanon and naturalized in Switzerland, this visionary has saved the Swiss watch industry from the threat incarnated by the quartz watch from Asia, by launching the famous Swatch. On this occasion, he laid the foundations of a particularly prosperous group.